Unearthing the next Dhoni

Once upon a time, the India cricket team comprised of players from big cities. The current CEO of a big outsourcing company was once a budding cricketer who was interested in making a career in cricket, till a senior counseled him. “How many people from your Ranji team have ever played for India?” This one sentence changed his life.

Today, if you look at the Indian cricket team, the big city representation is limited. There are an equal number of people from small towns. Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya… the list is endless.. Talent is coming from the hinterland. What has happened? Where has talent suddenly sprung from? The answer is talent was always there, talent scouts were absent. The people from small towns did not have the confidence to compete against the boys from big cities.

One of my ventures has taken me to Pune to run a finishing school. Last week, we gave an advertisement in the local vernacular newspaper for admissions, which has a geographical reach upto a 100 km radius.

The response was a flood. People travelled more than 2 hours to apply for a job. People aged 30 plus called asking whether they stood a chance. I met three ladies who came from 75 kms away, all engineers, instrumentation engineers, a commodity which is in short supply. For a moment I forgot my role and started speaking to them about engineering and their careers. They were brilliant, but had one drawback… they were not fluent in English. Engineering jobs on the shop-floor were very low paying- lower than even the minimum wage. Travelling  two and a half hours one way to work on the shop floor with a largely male dominated work force and spending entire money in travel and not saving much at the end, really doesn’t make sense.

I met another person, who literally begged me to give him a job. He lives on a cot basis, can’t go home to his villages as there has been no rain and the crop had failed. To those who are uninitiated, cot basis means, he lives in a big hall where there are 20 cots. Our friend gets a cot, and lives out of a suitcase which he keeps locked beneath his cot and access to a washroom shared by 20 people. All these people are in search of jobs. Every day, when I meet five such people, I struggle to hold back my tears. Clearly meeting these people is a humbling experience and reminds me of how fortunate I am.

There was another girl, who was even willing to pay for the course, which I am offering, but can’t speak English to save her life. She is hugely talented, has great hunger and I can clearly see her succeeding …if given an opportunity.

At the same time, I see that the recruiters still come from good B- Schools. The interview will be conducted in English. At the third question in English, this girl will clam up, which means she will not answer. It is not she doesn’t know the answer, she will be overawed by the language and will have no confidence to reply in English. I clearly see, that she will be rejected by the corporate.

And that is where my dilemma begins. I have invested money, big money in my venture, have fixed costs and need admissions to sustain my venture. Should I give her admission, take her money and cut my losses? The socialist in my heart wins over the capitalist in my brain. I reject her… to her utmost disappointment. My principal and partners will be unhappy with me for not generating enough sales. At the same time, I cannot be at peace with myself if I have given a wrong admission. What is right is not always good, and what is good for me may not be the right decision. Life never ceases to surprise and teach you.

I am reminded of something I did nearly 15 years ago, when I was on the admissions panel of leading B-School. There was a brilliant chap, who I quickly realized was not comfortable in English and I conducted the entire interview in Hindi. That is when he opened up and was free flowing. We selected him, and today he is at a very senior level in a leading Private Sector Bank. My question is does corporate India have a similar mindset?

In the early 2000s BCCI spread its wings, and had talent development officers scout the hinterland. Munaf Patel was picked from obscurity. Dhoni’s Ranji team was Jharkhand, which was just a speck on the domestic circuit, one of the teams which turned up to make the numbers. It is time for Corporate India to do a BCCI. There is talent, raw talent which is available in the villages.

Make in India and Skill Devlopment are good initiatives. Corporate support is needed. Over and above the funding and the CSR, what is required is a change in the recruiting mindset and patience in nurturing these people. There are enough and more Dhoni’s available there to be unearthed.